


Just Here Those Sleigh Bells

by peggy_hamilton



Series: Festivities 2016 [1]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas songs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 21:35:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9032732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peggy_hamilton/pseuds/peggy_hamilton
Summary: As if last minute Christmas shopping couldn't get any worse there's a guy on the other aisle who knows every word to every Christmas song the store is playing.





	

Joe didn't quite know where the year had gone, one minute it's January and he's already breaking his New Year's Resolutions, the next he's running into the nearest superstore on Christmas Eve because he hasn't bought presents for anybody. Thank fuck for chain stores because there was no place else open, it seemed most of the population had done their last minute shopping the night before so there were fewer people around the store tonight but that also meant there was less things for him to choose from, as if gift giving wasn't hard enough.

In fact Joe usually hated the whole shopping experience, even the weekly food shopping often became a hassle. This was due to those unwanted, unofficial shopping partners, i.e. the other people in the store who arrived at the same time as you and somehow always manage to be on the same aisle as you. These people are always irritating in one aspect or another, they leave the trolley in the middle so no one can get past, they walk slow, they can only yell into their phone, they have a gaggle of young children they can't control, etc.

Today, Joe's unwanted and unofficial shopping partner was a guy on the other aisle who he could hear singing along to the Christmas soundtrack the store was playing.

Sure, the guy had an alright voice but Joe just wanted to block out Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas for the last time, not listen to a sing along. Joe picked up a shaving kit and glanced hesitantly at the price, it was a bit of a rip off but it was all that was left in store and honestly, it wasn't as if he knew what his dad actually wanted or liked. He tossed it into his basket and moved along, he found a small perfume set that smelt like chemicals but it was the last one so he assumed it must be at least half decent. He was sure his mom would appreciate the effort all the same.

As he moved closer to the confectionery aisles Mr I-Can't-Listen-To-A-Song-Silently had the same idea. "Well the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, since there's no place to go..Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow." The guy had moved on from quietly singing along and had now started singing louder and putting emotions into the words, Joe wasn't a religious guy but he asked any deity that might be out there for the strength to make it through the rest of this shopping trip. 

Chocolates for Babe, that wasn't too generic was it?

"Just here those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too. Ring a ling a ling a ding dong ding."

This guy also liked to try and sing the back up as well. Joe was stuck between choosing some sort of gag gift for Bill, like a Barbie doll, or putting in actual effort into finding something, like a watch, (if he was honest Bill would probably enjoy both), but he couldn't make that decision with the sounds of the guy singing louder than the actual track. He looked around to see if anyone seemed phased by the random singing man but none of them seemed bothered by it. Crazy people. 

Thankfully, now that he's got half his presents he should be able to get away from the overly festive guy because he's getting slippers and pyjamas for everyone else and that's on a different floor. He can hear the guy humming the opening notes of Baby It's Cold Outside and he'd be lying if he said it didn't make him walk quicker.

The upstairs floor is considerably quieter and Joe breaths an audible sigh of relief, he takes the moment of calm to browse along the rows of clothes and taking note of a few shirts he wouldn't mind coming back for after he gets his next paycheck. A few minutes later he's stood in front of the slippers trying to remember what shoe size his brother is when he hears it. "But baby it's cooolld ooouuuutssiiiiiide." It's perfectly in time and in tune with the ending of the song and it grates down Joe's spine. 

He's been found.

While Joe is busy cursing his own bad luck the store begins playing Rocking Around The Christmas Tree and it's not even a surprise that the guy jumps right it and sings every word perfectly. Joe doesn't know how one person can waste so much brain space to have every Christmas song lyric ingrained into their brain but he guesses it's the same person who has no problem singing loudly in public.

Without even thinking about the design or size Joe grabs enough pairs of slippers to give to the rest of his friends and family and shoves them in his basket. He sharply turned around the corner ready to yell at the guy to shut the hell up, not everyone wants to listen to some douche singing while they try to shop.

He stops in his tracks when he sees the guy, he's shorter than him with floppy brown hair and an obnoxious Christmas jumper that looks like it would play music if you pressed a button, because this guy is attractive. While Joe had hated the singing he had to admit it was pretty good singing, and he had always been a sucker for guys who could sing well. But a guy who looks good and can sing well is too much for him to handle, even if this guy has been the most annoying person he's met today.

The guy hasn't noticed Joe standing there, and keeps singing along as he browses the shelves. "Snow is falling, all around me, children playing, having fun," the guy sings and it doesn't go unnoticed by Joe that he is also dancing on the spot a little and moving his shoulders to the beat. "'Tis the season, love and understanding. Merry Christmas, everyo-"

That's the exact moment the guy walks right into Joe's chest.

Joe had been shocked still that he hadn't even noticed him walking towards him and the guy hadn't taken his eyes off the shelf to see Joe. Either way, Joe's hands instinctively shoot out to grab his upper arms and steady him before he falls. "Oh sorry man, didn't see you there," he apologises and Joe thinks he can hear an east coast accent.

"No problem," Joe blinks, unsure of how to have a conversation like a regular human being.

The guy's eyes trailed down to the mountain of slippers in Joe's basket and raised an eyebrow, "Not one for Christmas creativity, huh?" he smiled.

Joe shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh, no, not so much."

The guy nodded, "I get that. The only reason I can't do that is cause my brothers and sisters would kill me if I got them all nine matching slippers."

"Yeah I get that..Nine!?"

"Oh yeah, I'm the oldest. Oh, I'm George by the way."

"Joe."

George smiled brightly, internally going crazy over Joe's voice. It did things to him. "So what brings you here on Christmas Eve?"

"Forgot it was Christmas tomorrow."

George laughed, "Huh, I wish I had. No, then I would have an excuse, but it's all my family's been going on at me for since November."

"Then why are you here tonight?" Joe wonders if that sounded ruder than he intended but George seems not to notice.

"This is the first chance I've had. I've got everything now though, so I just need to pay."

Joe nodded, "Me too." Together they made their way to the check out and this time George only whistled and hummed along to Driving Home For Christmas, they loaded their stuff onto the same check out. "So, do you go to college or?"

George shook his head, "Nah, I just work at a garage and occasionally get work fixing up people houses but that's mainly in summer. What about you?"

"I dropped out of college the first year and now I work in a bar," Joe said as the cashier began ringing up his stuff.

"Neat, where at?"

"You know Lipton's?"

George's eyes went wide, "Are you kidding me!? I love that place, well I mean I kind of have to my best friend owns it but hell yeah."

Joe laughed, "Really. You're friends with Mr.Lipton?"

George snorted, "Mr.Lipton, I'm gonna start calling him that. Yeah, Carwood was my neighbour growing up, that's such a weird coincidence." George vaguely remembered Carwood telling him about the new staff he had hired a few months ago, but he had never been in to see who it was which was a shame because he had clearly been missing out on seeing this Joe guy.

Joe nodded in agreement and put all of his things in a bag and found himself waiting for George as his stuff got put through as well, "World's a small place."  
"You're telling me," George laughed and paid for his stuff, the two of them began to walk out of the store.

"So you've got nine siblings?"

George laughed, "Mhm, devils children the lot of them. Rita's the oldest of them, she's eighteen or nineteen now and Louise is the youngest, she's only like five."

Joe noticed that that was basically one every year but he chose not to comment. "Loud house then?"

"Understatement."

"Well this is me," Joe gestured to his car as they walked through the car park. George grinned at him like he knew something he didn't. "What?"

"That's mine," George gestured to the car next to Joe's and even Joe couldn't help but smile, it seemed they were destined to run into each other. They each packed the bags into the trunk of the car, Joe found that he didn't want to just drive away and never see George again. "You know, there's gonna be a New Year's Eve party at Lipton's if you wanted to go," George mentioned casually and Joe felt his heart skip a beat.

"I'll be there," he nodded quickly and George brightened up, bouncing on the spot.

"Great, I'll see you there," George smiled and got in his car. Joe pretended to be fussing around with something in the glove box and waited until George had pulled out before he sat back in his seat. He would be seeing him on New Years Eve. Less than a week. Joe didn't particularly enjoy meeting up with his family but he could at least get through it with the promise of seeing George in all his boundless energy soon after, Joe drove home feeling just a little bit better about the whole Christmas shopping ordeal.

**Author's Note:**

> Got inspired to write this when I was last minute Christmas shopping yesterday. I was the person who knew all the words.


End file.
